Saturday, April 17, 2004

The End of the American Pastime by Jonnie Whoa Oh

If you would have asked me what the
present state of Major League Baseball was on February 13th, I would have told
you that it’s never been better.For
three years in a row there have been different World Series Champions and two
of them with payrolls below that of at least half of the teams out there.The trend of paying players obscene amounts
of money seemed to be going the way of the dodo with Vladimir Guerrero
signing to what ended up being less money than he was originally offered by the
Expos, and Pudge Rodriguez taking a reasonable contract and trying to
restore one of American’s best markets to respectability in Detroit.It seemed that teams were fed up of these
monstrous, overwhelming contracts that were hand cuffing them in the long run,
and I really thought that the trend was going towards lower guarantees and more
performance-incentive contracts.With
all of these on-goings throughout the most exciting off-season in decades, I
dismissed anyone who proposed a salary cap in baseball.In all fairness I’m a Mets fan and being in a
major market where teams have money I’ve always been of the opinion if you have
it, then spend it.In the last three
years spending a lot of money (especially in the Mets case) if not the most
money did not produce a championship or a playoff birth or even a .500
record.Keeping all this in mind I
thought a salary cap was something that was good for other sports but was
unnecessary in baseball.

If you would have asked me
what the present state of Major League Baseball was on February 16, 2004, I would have told you that
it’s never been worse.I would have told
you that the livelihood of the sport is teetering in the balance.I would have told you that one man’s gluttony
has been so short sighted that if it doesn’t blow up in his face, it risks
destroying a sport that has finally recovered from labor disagreements and
strikes that has tainted its past.I
would have told you that money is everything and if you have enough of it you
can buy every player available regardless of cost or need and eventually buy
yourself a championship.

The Yankees have six of the 12
highest paid players in the sport; that means that the other 30 teams have the
same number.The Yankees infield costs
more than 2003 World Championship Florida Marlins.The Yankees payroll is over 50% higher that
of Boston (who has the second highest payroll) and nearly seven
times that of the Royals.How are the
Royals, Twins, Devil Rays, Tigers supposed to compete if all the best players
will be bought by the Yankees?

Could the Yankees have won the AL and the
World Series without Alex Rodriguez? Yes.Did Boston bridge the gap
some what this off season with Schilling and Foulke? Yes, but by
no means are they guaranteed a championship.George has escalated the Cold War that we are in the midst of to the
point of no return.The only way to
achieve victory is to stockpile as many weapons as possible until the other
side can’t compete and they fold; all the while keeping your citizens afraid of
the potential of losing and forcing propaganda down their throats to convince
them that it’s necessary to maintain their winning ways by any means
necessary.By 1980 the USA and the USSR had the
capability to destroy the earth 300 times over.On February 16th,
2004 the Yankees have the capability for any one of their #1-8 hitters to
be the MVP of the league (by the way all of them have been All Stars).Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Evil
Empire; an empire not built for winning, but rather built for total and complete
destruction; not only of the destruction of its opponents, but of the very game
itself. Yankees have set a course to outspend every other team until they have
won every championship from here to eternity, to the point that no other team
is even competitive.The outcome will
not only be more titles for the Yankees but fewer fans all across the
country.Fans will stop caring because
they know that the excitement experienced this past season when the Cubs and
the Red Sox nearly getting into the World Series might never again be a
reality.This cannot go on for the
greater good.It is evident what’s
necessary for the survival of America’s past time.

A salary cap of $75 million is the only
solution that can potentially save a sport that lies in a cross roads of being
annihilated.Figure with a 25 man roster
$75 million works out to be a $3 million average.The concessions necessary by the Player’s
Association would be to lower the league minimum to $200,000 and establish a
maximum of $10 million (adjusted annually for inflation and cost of
living).Now why would the player’s
association allow their players to take less money, that’s un-American!The rationale is as follows: small market
teams will go under when they can’t compete and their fan base dries up.Economics tells us that there will be fewer
jobs available with more players looking to fill them and salaries will
decrease because in order to guarantee work players will be willing to take a
pay cut rather than stay unemployed.The
Player’s Association can nip this economic trend in the bud by accepting these
limits on salaries and protecting all of its players instead of just the highly
paid ones.

With these salary restrictions having six
of the 12 highest paid players in the game would be virtually impossible, if
they each were to make the maximum.A
direct repercussion would be phasing out specialists because each player would
have to earn their keep and salary by doing more.The insurance policies called closers would
be forced to pitch more than just the 9th.This change would speed up the game because managers would expect relief
pitchers to do more than face one batter (they couldn’t pay these pitchers as
much as they could in the past, $10 million for Billy Wagner leaves you
only with $65 million) and that would mean fewer pitching changes in an inning
and probably more intentional walks to get better match ups, and more base
runners equals more excitement.A salary
cap will continue the trend of bargain shopping like Boston did last season
and most other teams have done this off-season by picking up non-tendered
players.It will also push for more
incentive contracts in the sense that the teams would have to budget for the
maximum amount on the contract but if Vladimir Guerrero doesn’t reach, let’s
say, the 500 plate appearances necessary for the full contract value to kick
in, the club could apply that money to next year’s budget.The stipulations would be that the amount
could only carry over for one year and that it would be lost if the player is
traded in the off-season (preventing teams from stockpiling players who didn’t
reach their maximum and spending that money on other players).The frugality of the game will affect the
fans in the sense that ticket prices will decrease since the owners won’t have
to spend as much and this could potentially increase attendance.Couple this the achieved parity and the
casual fan will have cause to believe that their team has a chance.No Yankee fan is going to stop watching
because their payroll has decreased by two-thirds, but more Devil Rays fans
will take the time to follow their team if there’s a greater chance that they’ll
actually win.Interest from causal fans
breeds hardcore fans in a short time.Hardcore fans preserve the livelihood and the life of the game.

The next part of the equation is increased
revenue sharing.Revenue sharing will
make the $75 million budget attainable for the smaller market teams.The current system is a good start but the “haves”
don’t give enough to the “have-nots” in the case that they are under the luxury
tax threshold.Since there would be no
way to be over the $65 million cap, an arbitrary number like 3% of TV and radio
revenue will go into a fund that would be divided evenly between every team thus
leveling the playing field for smaller markets.

The final step should be to get rid of all
deferred money.I can’t buy a ticket for
$20 and then pay the rest of the $25 in 2008, so why should owners?This way contract values can’t argued over by
the Player’s Association. (Such as how much is it worth for a team to link your
personal website?)This will shore up
budgets in the present and future but not allow teams to overextend themselves
now as well as further down the line creating stability in the franchises.

Salary caps work; you need to look no
further than the NFL or the NBA—both leagues not only have a constant changing
variety of teams competing for the title but also have shown that even within
salary caps it is possible to build dynasties.You also have more teams competing for a playoff spot later in the
season than you see in baseball.These
factors increase fan base and the strength of the sport.If the same team wins all the time
(especially running away) then fans stop caring and sport will eventually
die.Everyone loves a winner but
everyone loves the underdog knocking off the top dog even more.

Baseball is standing in the midst of its
most crucial crossroads in many years and its survival hinges on how quickly it
embraces a salary cap and brings the spending and salaries back to earth.Monopolies were ruled to be un-American yet
they are perfectly acceptable if you are a Yankee fan.